NZXT H440: Review| Test| Specs| Pros & Cons| Hashrate| Set-up| Config | CPU

Test – NZXT H440 – Conseil Config: Specs | Price | CPU Performance| Hashrate| Setup| Config | Advantage (Pros) and Disadvantages (Cons) and other important features that will help you make better decision.

After testing a Kraken X41 AIO watercooling kit from NZXT, I will now tackle a very fashionable case from the brand, I named the H440! Unlike the boxes that we usually find at NZXT, the H440 radically changes edge to go from flashy to a “clean” and sober design, which is certainly not to displease! Found at a price of around € 130 it faces fierce competition on the market, let’s see if it will win.

Specification: Hashrate – NZXT H440

Like the very recent Fractal Design Define S (tested here) NZXT has chosen to dispense with any 5.25 ″ slot, in fact no more readers / writers and other external rheobus! For those who no longer use DVDs this will be a relief, however, it could be a little more annoying for rheobus aficionados, especially knowing that there is no way to change the speed of the fans supplied as standard. with the H440.
The dimensions of the beast place it in the average with 51 cm long, 47.6 cm high and 22 cm wide, the weight of 9.75 kg meanwhile is also not excessive without being light. Its compact dimensions do not however predestine it for small configurations, the graphics card can reach 40.6 cm in length (remove one or more carriages for the hard disks) and 18 cm in height are allocated to the CPU cooler.

The cooling capacity is very good with the possibility of installing up to 7 fans, 3 x 12 cm (or 2 x 14 cm) at the front, 3 x 12 cm (or 2 x 14 cm) above and 1 x 12/14 cm at the back. What sets the NZXT H440 apart from the competition is the number of fans supplied as standard, which amounts to 4.3 x 12 cm on the front and 1 x 14 cm on the rear, NZXT is clearly not there to do. in lace! The fans are FN v2 of the same brand which run at 1200 RPM for the 12 cm models and 1000 RPM for the 14 cm at the rear. All this little world connects to a small hug at the back capable of accommodating 10 3-pin fans, but unfortunately it is not possible to change the speed of rotation, the fans will still run at 12V (fully).

NZXT did not stop there and decided to take care of our little ears by putting thick foam on the 2 side panels, behind the front panel as well as under the top plate, enough to attenuate vibrations and muffle noise from components.
Of course the dust filters are part of the front and below (at the level of the power supply), the little extra of the chef resides in a light (with on / off button) at the back which will be used to illuminate the ports so as not to grope to plug something in (or use the flashlight of the cell phone, who recognizes it?).
Offered at a price of around € 130 NZXT offers a very well equipped box, let’s see it all more closely!

The front facade sets the mood, NZXT has chosen sobriety and it goes without saying that it is successful, we are entitled to a photo of the case in profile, the model as well as a small mention “remarkably clean “, and then that’s all! The “remarkably clean” takes on its full meaning here, the marketing has done its job well! At the back are photos showing the different parts of the H440 as well as a small listing in 8 different languages ​​of the different strong points of the case. Note that here there is no question of cumbersome marketing mention such as “this is the best box in the world”, even if this is not really an obstacle to the purchase it goes without saying that it is appreciable .

On the sides we continue in the “clean” spirit with on the one hand a listing of the technical characteristics (dimensions, weight, ventilation, compatibility etc.) and on the other hand only a photo of the facade!

When opening, we find the case in its plastic bag and sandwiched between 2 polystyrene molds, a classic.

The bundle consists of:

• 1 x NZXT sticker
• 1 x leaflet showing the different NZXT products
• 1 x large handle of cable ties
• 1 x installation manual (not pictured)
• The necessary screws

As we can see the bundle is really very correct, everything is present in order to install the configuration without the slightest problem.

Here is the front facade of the beast! Suffice to say that if you are looking for something flashy you will have to go your way 😉 We are in the presence of a plain painted facade in lacquered white in a very beautiful way, only the NZXT logo engraved in the metal at the bottom disturbs the sobriety . The build quality is really very good, we are not in the presence of a low-end case.

The front can be removed very easily by pulling gently, we can see that it is covered with a large plate of thick and rather dense foam which weighs the whole thing down, in addition to helping to reduce noise and vibrations. The ventilation will be done by only one of the 2 sides (at the bottom of the photo where there is the grille) and by the bottom, it may do little for good ventilation, but we will see this during the tests!

Once the front has been removed, we come across a large magnetic filter which covers the 3 12 cm fans supplied as standard. The build quality is once again very good.

On the side there is a large window showing the interior of the configuration, the entire motherboard as well as the power supply cover with the NZXT logo (which can be illuminated thanks to the button on the back). On the top are visible the ventilation holes if ever fans are installed. The whole mixes the sober and the modern, it is very successful, but as usual everything is a question of taste!

Also inside the door is a plate of the same foam as the front, which will once again help with vibrations and noise pollution.

No need to hide from you that there is not much to say on the other side, a plain white lacquered panel, the only differences with the other side (apart from the window of course) lie in the ventilation, this time it is on the front but not above.

Behind this panel is again foam, but a plate that almost completely covers the latter. Note that the foam being rather soft and thick marks quickly when cables are pressed against it, as can be seen in the photo.

Above we stay in the very sober, only the buttons as well as the connections disturb all this.

A power button (with a perimeter illuminated in white when lit), a reset button as well as 2 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0 as well as the eternal 3.5mm jacks for a headset.

The top comes off as easily as the front, just pull and it comes on its own. A large foam plate is also present, it can be said that NZXT does things right.

Once all this is removed we access the locations for the installation of the 12 or 14 cm fans, the quality is very good here and the ventilation will not be obstructed by grilles.

Underneath is a removable dust filter located under the power supply. The 4 feet are plastic but rest on a large rubber pad, which will prevent the case from transmitting vibrations to the surface on which it is placed.

At the rear there is the location for a 12 or 14 cm fan behind a honeycomb grille, black perforated extension brackets as well as 2 water-cooling pipe grommets. The location of the power supply which is equipped with a plate, it will be necessary to remove it using the hand screws, screw the power supply and put it in place with the plate then screw the latter back to the box. The little extra here is the button at the top left which turns on or off the LEDs on the back and inside the box (the NZXT logo on the power supply cover).

Note that all the hand screws present in the NZXT H440 are integral, that is to say that once unscrewed they will remain in place, a very good point for those who have an annoying tendency to lose the screws!

Here is the interior of the beast! The design is very clean here, rubber grommets, SSD carriages, power supply cover, holes to pass cables all over the place as well as a large plate that hides those ugly hard drives. Let’s see all of this in more detail.

The plates used to install the SSDs are placed on the power supply cover, behind each of them is a hole allowing the power and Sata cables to pass through, in order to keep everything as clean as possible. It goes without saying that people who like to display their gear will be in heaven 😉

Under the plates for SSDs there is a plastic strip with the NZXT logo, which will light up when the LEDs are on.

The brackets are painted black, removable and equipped with hand screws, the quality is very good and the vents will not block the air flow at the bottom of the case.

3 rubber grommets are present on the edge of the motherboard, they handle well and are of a reasonable size, no worries.

The fan at the back, a 14cm FN V2 running at a maximum speed of 1000 RPM, if it is the same model as on the Kraken X41 it should be really very good, especially in terms of noise pollution (not engine noise, rattling etc.).

Looking towards the front panel, we find the 5 hard drive cages (the 6th hard drive being installed at the bottom of the case), they are all well spaced so as not to obstruct the air flow too much.

The cages are made of metal, all equipped with 4 rubber pads which should help to attenuate the vibrations, on the other hand they are only present on one side, on the other side the screw will directly touch the metal so it is very likely that that vibrations pass, we will see that during the tests!

We see the foam through the locations of the fans above, nothing out of the ordinary 😉

At the back we can see that it is still a little loaded, in addition to the cables of the front panel there are also PCBs for the fans and the LEDs. Note that there is between 1.77 cm and 3.25 cm for the storage of cables at the back of the motherboard, which should be sufficient if the job is well done! A lot of clips are available to tie the cables and thus make the whole thing cleaner.

On the bottom and behind the power supply there is a significant place to put a whole bunch of cables, a non-modular power supply would be perfectly suited without affecting the final look of the machine, which is a very good point.

On the left, the concentrator allowing the connection of 10 fans, everything is supplied via a 3-pin adapter -> molex 4-pin that must be connected to the power supply, as I said above it will unfortunately not be possible to regulate the fans unless a rheobus is installed on the output 3-pin. On the right the small circuit which feeds the LED at the back of the box.

The configuration used during the tests is as follows:

A rather bulky configuration therefore due to its huge cooler and the 3 slots taken by the graphics card. The NZXT H440 will be tested once with 5V fans and once in 12V with only the SSD connected. Another test will take place at 5V with the Raptor hard drive connected, it being literally hell in terms of its vibrations, which will allow us to see the effectiveness of the silentblocs.

The assembly in the H440 went without a hitch, everything fits perfectly and there is enough room to work in excellent conditions. The rubbers of the grommets are malleable and do not come out of the slot instantly as in some other cases. It will also be very easy to hide unnecessary cables thanks to the space available in front of the power supply in addition to the many outlets around the motherboard.

Here is the beast once mounted with the window in place, we can say that everything is really clean here, we only see the main!

A quick glance at the lights anyway, at the back it will be really very practical to connect / disconnect the various peripherals without going there groping or with a hand occupied with a cell phone to see something. The NZXT logo also lights up in white, like it or not!

In order to test the box, I will carry out an OCCT Power Supply test for 30mins and then take the temperatures of the main components such as the processor (average of the 4 cores), the motherboard, the graphics card as well as the hard drive.
Regarding noise pollution, I will proceed as in the file on silent PCs namely 1 statement in front, right, left, rear and above.

The NZXT H440 will face the case used for the silent pc backrest, the Corsair Carbide 300R modified for the needs of the same backrest as well as the be quiet! Silent base 800, Cooler Master Silencio 652S, the Fractal Design Define R5 as well as the Aerocool DS200. The choice of boxes is not random, all these boxes are rather silent so the NZXT H440 will have a lot to do!

Repos

At rest the temperatures of the components in the H440 are average, except in 12V where the 4 fans do their job well, on the other hand in 5V the performance is a little behind compared to the number of fans. The ventilation present on the front is a little too restrictive to really allow to take advantage of the air flow of all these fans. Of course everything remains very well cooled at rest, the heat to be removed being ridiculous.

Ambient sound level: 31dB

The NZXT H440 is able to be really very quiet once the fans are supplied with 5V, with a maximum noise level of 35 dB at the rear and it is on par with the tenors of the genre like Fractal Design R5 and the Cooler Master Silencio 652S, which quite frankly is no small feat! Once the Wester Digital Raptor hard drive is installed, we can however hear the noise of vibrations emanating from the latter as well as the noise of the scratching of the read heads, the sound level rises from 1 to 2dB depending on where the probe is located. .
Once supplied with 12V on the other hand the fans are clearly heard, 4 fans is really not nothing and this is felt with a maximum of 45 dB at the rear and 38 to 41 dB elsewhere.
Note that the fans on the other hand do not really emit any parasitic noises, whether it is clicking or purring coming from the motor, they are really very pleasant to the ear and it really pleases.

Nothing really particular to note at the level of the rotations per minute of the fans at rest in the H440, apart from perhaps an increase of 30 RPM for the fans of the processor in 5V from 600 RPM for the other boxes to 630 RPM, nothing really bad though!

Charge

In charge, the NZXT H440 does as well as the other boxes in the comparison, luckily NZXT has equipped its baby with 3 suction fans to keep temperatures acceptable, we can clearly see that the lack of ventilation on the front has an impact on performance . The temperatures are not on the other hand catastrophic, in 5V and in 12V it manages to cool the components of the test configuration perfectly and even matches the be quiet! Silent Base 800 for the processor.

Ambient sound level: 31dB

Once again the H440 achieves a really very contained sound level in 5V with a maximum of 39 dB at the rear, it does as well as the Fractal Design R5 and Cooler Master Silencio 652S, so there is really nothing to say about it. The moss everywhere does its job very well. Western Digital Raptor hard drive once again adds 1 to 2dB due to vibration.
Once the fans are supplied with 12V the sound level does not vary in any way compared to rest, the fans being noisier than the components there is logically no difference.

The RPMS of the fans managed automatically by the components do not vary much compared to the other boxes, we arrive at a maximum of 940 RPM for the fans of the processor in 5V (against 900 RPM in 12V) and 700 RPM for the fans of the card graphics, whether in 5V or 12V.

Here we are at the end of this test, what about the NZXT H440?
NZXT decided to give it a big bang here with a feature-packed H440, LEDS on the back and the internal logo to liven up the look of the thing a bit, grommets throughout, roomy cable storage, foam wherever possible and a very nice number of 4 fans.

The build quality is really excellent, nothing has been left to chance whatsoever in the white lacquered paint of the most beautiful effect, very good quality fans and the assembly is done without the slightest hitch thanks to the countless passes -cables all very well made.
Regarding the look the NZXT H440 is clearly not flashy with a solid color without disgrace, it is of course a matter of taste but I find the result magnificent.

On the other hand, the perfect box does not exist for the moment unfortunately, we note slight vibrations when a hard drive which vibrates a lot is installed (like the Wester Digital Raptor 150 GB of the test), the scratching of the read heads are retransmitted into the box, the inlet air flow is a little weak due to a lack of ventilation at the front and the fan concentrator (10 in total) is unfortunately not equipped with the original rheobus. These small hazards are not however eliminatory when buying a case, but they must however be noted!
Offered at a price of around 130 € the NZXT H440 is certainly a bit expensive but offers a lot of features and equipment compared to the competitors, such as the 10-fan concentrator and the excellent original 4 fans, in addition to a really successful look it will be a perfect candidate for a high-end pc config, despite the small negative points.

The +

• Manufacturing quality / finish
• Equipment
• Very good quality fan
• Silence to a minimum.

Disadvantages

• .. but loudly loud
• Hard drive vibration
• Non-adjustable fan concentrator

A big thank you to NZXT who allowed me to do this test.

Where to find the NZXT Kraken H440?

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